Chelsea latest: Luiz defiant, why Mata marginalised, injuries & more

Swindon Town did their best to dampen the spirits of the travelling Blues who witnessed Chelsea's 2-0 victory at the County Ground last night, including a particularly lengthy rendition of 'You're not special! You're not special! You're not special anymore'! aimed at Jose Mourinho, but the 12th man did little to make the west Londoners visit any harder.

Chelsea navigated their way to the fourth round of the League Cup having fielded a largely second string selection that included outcasted figures such as Willian, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres while Marco van Ginkel was also provided a start.

The club's progression in a competition they won twice under Mourinho (and have not won since) came at a price as van Ginkel and Ramires both suffered injuries, the former of whom could even be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Assistant first-team coach Steve Holland confirmed, as per a FIFA report: 'We've got an injury to Marco which, it's a little bit too early to be certain but it doesn't look good. He'll have a scan on Wednesday [today] on an injury to his knee.

'It's too early to say (if it's bad) but let's hope that's not the case. It didn't look good as he came off so early in the game. We'll have to see the results of the scan, we'll know more.'

On Ramires: '[Van Ginkel's] substitute, Ramires, also had to go off with a muscular injury at the top of his hip which was causing him more discomfort as he tried to run it off. He'll be a major doubt for Saturday at Tottenham, not out for sure yet, but a major doubt. They're the two disappointments of the evening.'

Barcelona target David Luiz has spoken out over his first XI omissions, claiming that he is content with the current rotation policy in place at the club. Luiz was one of the stand-out performers of the summer's Confederations Cup competition with Brazil, but has been used sparingly by Mourinho.

Luiz, speaking to Evening Standard, has said he is not fazed as everybody knows what he can do.

'I don’t need to prove anything,' he said. 'Everyone knows who David Luiz is, I want to play football and enjoy myself on the pitch so when I have an opportunity to play, I want to enjoy just that. I am just one player in the team. Sometimes the manager can put me in, sometimes not. It’s his choice.

'This is a big club and we have many, many good players. If Chelsea just had 11 players we would win nothing. We don’t have to prove anything. We just have to show we want to play. Everyone had an opportunity to play against Swindon and show our football.'

One other fringe Blue is currently two-time club player of the year, Juan Mata, who won the praise of Holland for his contributions yesterday evening.

'A lot has been made of the Mata situation because he's a high-profile player,' Holland is quoted by BT Sport to have said, before adding the reason why Mata has, thus far, been marginalised.

'The message to all of our attacking players from Jose from day one has been they need to contribute offensively in terms of their production and of course they have to contribute out of possession and defend. That's been the challenge not just to Juan but all of our attacking players.

'In Juan's case, if you look at his performance here, he made Fernando's chance and was involved in the goal. Those two moments - goal-making and goal-scoring actions.'

Holland's positivity and Mata's satisfying of Mourinho's demands, may now see the Spaniard more involved in upcoming competitive duty.

McEachran, meanwhile, was substituted during Watford's 2-3 reverse to Norwich City but it has since been confirmed that it was due to a back spasm and the midfielder will soon be back to full match fitness.

And finally, Chelsea, along with Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, are monitoring the contract situation that Andrea Pirlo currently finds himself in. The Italian's deal with Juventus runs out at the end of the season and would be available on a free.